Hello. im new here so take it easy on me. Ive recently started work for a new company and all their equipment is set up john deere (I think) right stick arm in out left stick boom up down. this is the reverse of what I am fluent with and have found that I cant be productive this way. My two machines on my crew are a kobelco 70sr and a Hyundai 130lc. can I easily swap contols around in either machine. id like to learn the other way but the higher ups aren't that patient. thanks in advance
Going to a different pattern machine can mess you up for both setups. A pattern changer is nice, but costs money. While I don't know the setup on your machines, on an older Hitachi you could get at the hoses pretty easily to swap them around. It could be done during a coffee break, but will the bosses let you do it? If you can get a copy of the schematics it shouldn't be that big of a deal.
Unless machines have a pattern changer it can be either easy or difficult. Add to that, if the company has other employees that operate the machine, and they are used to Deere controls, that will make things problematic. If that's the case, about the best you could hope for is the company would agree to put a pattern changer on the machine. A Holmbry pattern changer is around 200 bucks if I recall correctly.
CowTrkr23: I have a New Holland EH80 CS, which is really a Kobleco 80. It has a pattern changer (ISO/SAE) built in on top of the hydraulic tank. A New Holland/Kobelco 70 is the same machine but without the CS boom, so take a close look at your Kobleco 70 for a pattern changer. I also prefer the ISO pattern (boom & bucket on the right) as opposed to the SAE (boom & bucket on the left).